NEW YORK, Jan 31 Citigroup Inc is looking
to pull out of consumer banking in more countries in an effort
to lower costs and boost profits, according to two people
familiar with the matter.

In December, Citigroup said it was withdrawing from consumer
banking in five countries - Pakistan, Paraguay, Romania, Turkey
and Uruguay - as part of an expense reduction plan that will
save $1.1 billion a year and eliminate 11,000 jobs. The cuts
were one of Michael Corbat's first major steps as chief
executive, a position he took in October.

"There is more on the list," said a source familiar with the
situation.

The bank has been looking for months at countries, customer
segments and products to cut, the source said, but declined to
name any of the additional countries.

Sean Kevelighan, a Citigroup spokesman, said the bank is
focused on major cities with the highest growth potential for
its consumer business and will continue to invest in its
franchise and optimize its assets.

Citigroup is one of the most international of U.S. banks,
serving consumers in 40 countries out of the 100 in which it has
some kind of presence.

Any cuts would likely represent a paring of the portfolio
rather than a complete rethinking of the bank's commitment to
global consumer banking.

Outside the United States, just three countries - Mexico,
South Korea and Australia - account for half of the company's
loans to consumers and the bank's presence in many other
countries is tiny.

Investors said scaling down in some markets makes sense.

"If they're not going to have a significant presence, they
shouldn't be there," said Mark Mandell, portfolio manager at
Dalton Investments, which has $1.8 billion under management and
owns Citigroup shares.

Selling any of the foreign assets now would be tough. Other
lenders around the world have also been closing foreign outposts
and buyers can be hard to find. London-based HSBC Holdings Plc
, for example, has sold more than 40 businesses and
other assets, such as credit card portfolios, globally since
2011, but it has sometimes been a struggle to get the prices it
wanted.

Citigroup has some extra complications, too. The bank is
using about half its capital to support bad assets and tax
benefits related to its huge losses during the financial crisis.

Speaking on a conference call with analysts and investors
earlier this month, Corbat said he intends to make regular
assessments of "how and where and with whom" the company
generates revenue, so the process of cost cutting is more "BAU,"
or business as usual, instead of a one-time event.

Analysts unsuccessfully pressed Corbat to give more detail
about which other countries he might focus on to cut costs.

Corbat, who previously oversaw company operations in
Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said that, over time,
managers in different countries tend to expand by veering into
tangential businesses and end up saddling the company with
extraneous and inefficient operations. Other executives at the
bank have made similar complaints in the past.

BANAMEX CONUNDRUM

One of the most radical alternatives Citigroup executives
have discussed in the past is spinning off its Banamex unit, the
second-biggest bank in Mexico, in a public stock offering there.
Mexican regulators would likely allow a standalone Banamex to
operate with less capital, which would increase its
profitability, one of the sources said.

But Banamex is already highly profitable and has a good
market position. Selling it would slow Citigroup's efforts to
build capital, undercut its strategy of investing in emerging
markets and would also mean parting ways with Banamex head
Manuel Medina-Mora. Corbat recently named him co-president of
Citigroup, which many inside the bank viewed as a sign he is an
important part of the new management team.

The global operations long have been both a blessing and a
burden for company executives.

Being in many different countries gives the company valuable
name recognition and an edge in winning and keeping customers
for one of its crown jewels, the Transaction Services unit that
moves money internationally for businesses and governments.

But being in so many countries also means its operations are
far-flung and subject to myriad local laws and customs. Those
problems tend to be greatest in the consumer business. It is
harder for the company to capture enough revenue to sufficiently
exceed the costs of running branches, a payments network and
offering products, such as credit cards.

Two-thirds of the 40 countries where Citigroup does consumer
banking provide no more than $2 billion of loans each toward the
company's $1.86 trillion in assets. Those small operations
include Argentina, Thailand and Russia.

Citigroup's Brazilian unit plans to sell its Credicard
consumer finance unit as part of an effort to focus on the most
profitable areas, according to a report on Wednesday from
newspaper Valor Economico, which did not say how it obtained the
information. A Citigroup representative declined to comment.

For the consumer businesses to succeed, Corbat said earlier
this month, they have to be capable of being served by common
systems for lending, issuing credit cards and opening accounts.

The U.S. consumer bank is also a thorny question for
Citigroup. It has much smaller operations in retail banking than
many rivals - just about 1,000 branches, less than one-fifth as
many as JPMorgan Chase & Co Bank of America Corp
and Wells Fargo & Co.

Normally, a bank with a relatively small business might look
to sell it, but shedding good assets in the United States is
particularly difficult for Citigroup, because the bank needs
taxable U.S. revenue to benefit from the nearly $50 billion of
deferred tax assets that it has on its books.
(Reporting by David Henry in New York. Additional reporting by
Steve Slater in London; Editing by Dan Wilchins, Martin Howell
and Andre Grenon)

Dec 9 The former Mitsubishi Motors
plant in Normal, Illinois that was shut about a half year ago
has been purchased by startup Rivian Automotive, which plans to
reopen the factory in five years, the Normal mayor said on
Friday.

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